McCurtain County History, Oklahoma Dear Aunt Ludie, I remember meeting you in Idabell at the library in the fall and you asked me to send you some information on the shaping of McCurtain County and the Indian Tribes that lived here. I am enclosing a copy of a paper I did for a class and you can pull the information from it you need. A. Pitchlyn great great granddaughter of pitchlyn ha-ha. Ludie’s extracts from Arkansas Territory: The first nation to claim Oklahoma was Spain then followed France and England. Spanish explorers traveled through Arkansas and into Oklahoma to Oklahoma’s northern border, however France made the more lasting contributions to the country. The French named the areas and those names remain today. Probably the most notable explorer was Bernard de Harpe. The names of Ultima Thule, Poteau, Cossatot. Kiamichi is still familiar today. Dr. John Sibley, Indian agent for Louisisana Territory led the first American Expedition.into Oklahoma. (McCurtain County located in Arkansas Territory at this time). Other explorers included Stephen H. Long and Thomas Nuttal around 1817. Long and Nuttal visited about a dozen Caddoan tribes that lived along the Red River from Natchitoches, Louisiana to Idabel. A Military Trace Road was built from FT. SMITH to FT. TOWSON crossing to Boar Creek near Dequeen, Arkansas then westward through McCurtain County and traces can be seen north of Little River to this day. In 1831 the Choctaws from Mississippi were removed to Indian Territory and were completed by 1833. A ration station was set up at the old Miller Court house which was thirty miles southeast of FT. Towson on the Red River. David Folsom was the first Choctaw lay missionary among the Choctaws. He was in charge of one of the first parties of Choctaws to migrate west. He sent his two brothers Israel and McKee to school in Connecticut. Israel was the first to translate the Lord’s Prayer into Choctaw. The first Choctaw library contained books that David and his brothers ordered from Boston. David Folsom’s tomb is the oldest in Doaksville and the inscription reads; David Folsom, the First Republican Chief of the Choctaw Nation. The Choctaws were related to the Muskogean group of the Algonquian family, their language being somewhat similar. The Choctaw burial was related with their belief in life after death. Food and drink and the deceased’s favorite dog or horse was placed near the corpse after killing the animal. The dead Indian was placed on a high gurney or platform near his house. He was then covered with buffalo robes, deer hides, and bark. Favorite hunting articles, ornaments and hunting utensil were placed around the corpse. During the first few days a fire was kept burning to keep the body warm for comfort and light. The corpse remained there for five to six months. The stench was so strong the mourners sometimes passed out. When the body was decomposed enough the pickers were brought in. The picker fingernails sharpened and they absolutely picked the flesh off the bones. With every shred of flesh picked the skull was painted vermilion, the skeleton was then handed to the family and placed into a well constructed coffin. The platform was then burned, the coffin placed in the bone house and a celebration with the bone pickers as celebrated guest sat at the head of a huge banquet. —Games and medicine men and others next Marriages-Book D Columbia County Rucker, Howell 21 to Dollie Robertson 15 on 31 of December 1882. Formby, Michial M. 29 to Telitha E. Formby 18, on 25 January 1877. W. M King 22 of Lafayette County to Ann M. Carlton 19 on July 23, 1876. Malone, T. W. 24 to Mollie Raborn 17 both of Buckner 20 of January, 1889. Shurtleff, William O. 27 to Sallie D. Cypert 20 .16 January 1879. Shurtliff George O. 25 to Martha A. E. Landers 17, December 3, 1878. Hardnett(pro. Hodnett) Arreler 25 to Rueben Miliner 21 June, 1, 1873.